Harnessing the storm
by Prrowcat
Summary: Will, Helen and Henry go in search of a new abnormal with the ability to control and shoot electricity who is captured by the Cabal. First Sanctuary fic. Possible romance in later chapters. No flames pls. R&R  .
1. Bottled Lightning

AN: Hey, this is my first Sanctuary fic :) so no flames please.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Wish I did. This fits in somewhere in the start of season 2.

CAUTION, CONTENTS CONTAIN SPOILER FOR END OF SEASON1/START OF SEASON 2.

* * *

The sun beat down harshly on the road, as a teenage girl ran full pelt down the street. Her patchy coloured hair streamed out behind her, as she panted for breath not daring to look behind her. Turning down an alley in an effort to escape, she caught her breath in the shadows. Jogging down the alley she searched for escape, but was met by a dead end. Cursing her luck she spun quickly, in the hopes that her pursuers hadn't found her. She was met with a large black van blocking the entrance. Panting, she tried to calm down, backing down the alleyway. A squad of about six men clambered out of the van. Heavily armed, it was hard to imagine why six men were sent to hunt down a young girl, much less heavily armoured men with tranquiliser guns. She wasn't petite, but she hardly seemed a threat. Continuing to back away, she held out her hand, concentrating heavily on the men trying to surround her. She let them get closer before there was a flash of light and the CCTV camera goes blank.

"And that's where it ends boss," stated Henry. Will, Helen and Henry stood around the computer screen, all trying to figure out what they had just seen.  
"Well it was clearly the cabal," stated Will, running his hands through his hair. "The real question is who she is, and why they wanted her," he finished, stating the obvious.

"Rewind the footage please Henry," asked Helen, peering closely at the screen. "Pause it there." The trio stared at the frozen picture on the screen. From the girl's outstretched hand, there seemed to be a fork of electricity twisting out and striking one of the men.

"Well at least we know how the camera got fried," joked Henry.

CABAL

The bright overhead lights blinded her, as she tried to open her eyes. Voices came in and out of focus. Waking up with a start, she twisted her head to see where she was. A room with the feel of a science lab greeted her, as she found that she was thoroughly strapped to a chair, with several cameras aimed at her head. She also found that she wasn't alone. "It is great of you to join us, Amber," came the smarmy voice of someone who has seen this sort of thing before and enjoys every minute of it. "I'm Diane, and I'm sure we're going to be the best of friends."

"Nobody ever calls me Amber," came her angry reply, "and in your dreams, bitch". She wasn't surprised when the woman ignored it. She had met this kind of person before.

"Now Amber, you are going to help us here today," continued the woman.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" her sarcasm giving a bite to the words.

"You can either choose to help us by your own free will, or by force. It is your choice, although I can tell you that the former will be more pleasant," she finished with a smile.

"Hmm, help my kidnappers? Sure I'll help you stick that crazy idea back up your…" came her angry retort before she was interrupted by the stick of a needle forcing her into silence.

"And I was so hoping you'd co-operate" were the last words she heard before blackness fell.

SANCTUARY

Henry sat at the computer, trying to figure out where they could be keeping this strange girl. He started by tracking the different cabal networks. When that came up with hundreds of results he started thinking of how he could narrow this down. Then a brain wave. Collecting his findings he rushed off to find Helen.

"So first I tried tracking down areas of isolated power usage, and then I thought, what if this girl was being used as a power source, so I looked for a dip in the power use," he paused momentarily from his speedy speech. "Now look here," he said, pointing at a map, "This area was registering as a high use of electricity at 12pm yesterday, but it spiked at one and here, nothing. Completely off the map." Henry beamed up at Helen, clearly pleased with the result.

"Great," replied Magnus, looking over the map handed to her, "You and Will can drive there straight away, I have more business to attend to here," she finished, before turning back to her work. Henry hurried from the room, eager to gather his supplies for the outing.

CABAL  
She was running. Streets everywhere, they all looked the same. The van was here and she was scared. She was scared of the men in military outfits that were in the van. That were coming to take her. To hurt her. In the distance came the wordless screeching of a creature in pain.

Sweat ran down her face despite the cold and her palms tingled with electricity. She never had enough. No matter how many she shocked they just kept coming. There were too many. The screeching of tyres urged her on faster as they began to catch up. She was never fast enough. She could never escape. She stopped, and turned around, ready to meet them. Like the last time, she would face them. The van stopped abruptly and the men poured out. Sparks shot from her fingers to find them. But they were sucked into the air, gone before reaching them. Terror shot through her as she realised that she was defenceless. The men got closer as she turned to run again. Pain lanced through her chest. This time they weren't shooting tranquiliser darts. Crumpling to the ground she began to scream, as they dragged her back to the van before the world faded to blackness again…

… She was running. Streets everywhere, they all looked the same. The van was here and she was scared. She was scared of the men in military outfits that were in the van. That were coming to take her. To hurt her. In the distance came the wordless screeching of a creature in pain…

The guard outside her door peered in again as the muffled and desperate cries of the unconscious girl within disturbed him from his post. A woman in a power suit stalked up with a doctor holding medical charts, pausing in front of the clear Perspex door. "How is the treatment working?" she asked as the doctor perused his charts.

"Very well Ma'am, the adrenaline serum is working fantastically, we are getting an amazing output of energy, it's just a shame about the nightmares,"

"Yes, a shame," stated the woman coldly, barely glancing at the young girl screaming in the chair.

SANCTUARY

"So lets go over the plan again," said Henry, before checking through his equipment on the way to the car.

"We've been through this several times now Henry," stated Will, getting exasperated. "You shut down their security, we head in, find the girl, grab her and then get out."

"Yeah, well I want to get this right, you know, it's my first mission since…" Henry broke off, making the silence awkward. It had been only a little while since Ashley had died. Changing tack Henry said, "Hey, what if she's all, you know," Henry mimed electricity, "Sparky," he finished. "Hey, I'll be right back," he said before running back into the sanctuary.

CABAL

The rhythmic sound of typing filled the bleak room lit by computer screens. The cabals top scientists worked their hardest, as they were currently being scrutinised by Diane.

"Uh, ma'am, I think you should come and see this," came the voice of one of the programmers, breaking the monotony of sound.

Further down the hall, Henry and Will had found the girl. "Holy crap," exclaimed Henry, peering in to see the mass of wires surrounding this one girl before applying the pink dishwashing gloves. Flashes of light periodically shone through the Perspex door. "Glad I brought the gloves now," joked Henry grimly, setting to work on the electronic lock on the door.

"Yeah, well lets just get her out of here," stated Will, keeping lookout down the corridor, "we don't know what it is they've done to her."

"Hey, I got it, you keep watch here, I'll see if I can get her out," said Henry as the door swung open. Will nodded his answer as Henry turned to go into the room. Jumping slightly at each flash of escaping electricity he made his way over to the chair in the center of the room. His eyes scanned over the multitude of electrodes stuck to points on the girl lying in the chair. Her forehead was covered in sweat and her eyelids flickered constantly as a liquid trickled slowly down the tube inserted into her arm. Every now and then a hoarse whimper came from her throat. He quickly found where the electricity was being collected. Her hands were firmly strapped onto clear globes where lightning flickered down into wires.

"I think we have company," called Will, getting his stunner ready.

"Ok, ok," Henry muttered to himself as he began to undo the leather straps and started pulling off the multiples of electrodes. Her eyelids flickered groggily, barely focusing on the man releasing her before slipping back into unconsciousness. After releasing the last strap, he eased her hands off the sphere they were attached to, finding a tiny needle that had been inserted into her palm. On its removal, a cascade of sparks filled the room, stinging him, as they no longer had anywhere to escape to. He scooped her up, careful to avoid skin on skin contact. Hurrying from the room he headed back up the corridor, with Will holding the rear, not too close to the dangerous girl.

She was running again. This time was different. They were still after her, and she was still scared, but the previous terror had eased a little. There was a new face. Out of focus, he appeared in a blue light, concentrating on something else. This vision disrupted her sky before she slipped back into her usual routine of fleeing. Someone was there. By now she had established that none of this was happening. All of it was a dream. But that didn't make it any less terrifying. It didn't take away the pain as they shot her. She struggled harder this time, a desperate attempt to resurface. Find a break in the constant waves of adrenaline she was swimming in. Slowly her world broke up, the bright lights of the sun fading into the dim interior of a van. A voice resonated around her head, unclear and out of focus.

"Her muscle spasms have died down heaps, and she isn't shocking me as damn much," came a tired male voice. It took her a moment to realise that he was talking about her. "How much longer until we get to the sanctuary?" She attempted to speak, giving little more than a groan from her abused vocal chords. She flexed her arms, attempting movement, but found them firmly strapped down to her sides. "Oh shit, she's coming round," came the now slightly panicked voice. She tried moving her legs, but found them strapped down too. A last surge of adrenaline came through her system, as she started to struggle wildly. She was vaguely aware of the discharged electricity surging through her hands and was puzzled slightly at how it was remaining contained within a short space of her hands.

"Just try to calm her down," came a second, less panicked voice from what seemed to be the front of the van. "We don't know what it was that they were drugging her with," he continued.

"What's going on?" came her hoarse whisper, as she finally forced the words out. Her voice sounded weak and abused. A face came into focus just above her, and she recognised it as the one that had interrupted her nightmare earlier. Her muscles spasmed with the memory. Looking thoroughly lost in the situation, he took her hand, revealing the reason of the ineffectiveness of her lightning. Rubber gloves. With his other hand he started stroking her hair, a surprisingly reassuring gesture.

"So what you're saying is that they pumped her full of adrenaline to keep her producing electricity?" restated Will, a horrified look on his face.

"Yes, although why they would need that kind of supply is beyond me," said Magnus thoughtfully, "What they were planning could hardly be for the long term, as she seems to have deteriorated quite a lot in the time she has been hostage."

Helen calmly put on her own rubber gloves, a system that seemed vital at this stage, before entering the room with the patient with Will following suit. "Now what they were injecting her with seems to be a solution that would contain a high dosage of adrenaline and other essential nutrients. They clearly weren't feeding her properly," she continued, monitoring the various screens arranged around the room. "I would be surprised if she regained consciousness anytime soon."

"Well that's the thing," started Will, leaning against one of the tables, his arms folded, "Henry told me that she was awake for some of the trip back, and apparently put up a bit of a fight," he concluded, casting a casual eye over the still-restrained patient.

A knock came from the window of the room causing Helen and Will to look up. Henry gestured to his graphic screen from outside the room.

"So, I did a background check on our girl here," Henry started when Helen and Will were outside the room. "Amber Armstrong, 19, moved here from Australia about two weeks ago, renting a small place not far from where we saw that footage of her, good school records, no criminal record, and that's about all I could find about her," stated Henry, looking please with himself. "She was quite hard to find on any database, most of them are wiped clean," He continued, "She clearly didn't want anyone to find her, I had to link disturbances in the electrical grid and cross reference them to even find her name."

"Thankyou Henry," said Magnus, "I'm quite sure that she was keeping a low profile to escape situations like this," she finished.

An alarm from within the room started going off, drawing the attention of the trio outside. It was apparent that the girl was now awake. All three hurried into the room. Checking the monitor on her way, Helen walked up to the girl with Henry and Will staying in the background. As the girl was about to speak, Helen interrupted her "It is best if you didn't talk, I imagine your throat would be sore after your ordeal." This statement caused her to close her mouth again. Helen continued looking at the charts, considerably surprised that her patient was now lucid. The girl looked around the room, her reaction neutral. She hadn't the energy to be scared anymore. The escape had left her exhausted. She caught the eyes of the two men who had helped her escape, and the last piece of tension left her, allowing her to smile.

"You seem to be recovering at a very good rate, even for an abnormal," said Magnus, finishing her check-up on the screens. "Although it will be a little time before you can use your ability like before," she said kindly. "I'm Helen and this is Will and Henry, if you need anything all you have to do is ask," she paused, before nodding to Will that he could talk to her and then leaving the room. Will pulled up a chair, whilst keeping an eye on the girl for her reaction of his closeness.

"Henry can you put up the CCTV footage of the kidnapping?" asked Will before turning back to the patient as Henry started scribbling away on his handheld touch screen. "Hey I'm Will," he started, giving her a quick smile, "and I just have a few questions about what happened a few days ago," he glanced up, aware that she was no longer paying attention. He eyes were focussed on Henry, as he passed the screen to Will. Wordlessly, Will held the screen up for her to watch. As she stared at the girl on the screen comparisons became clear. All puppy fat had gone, and she was considerably thinner, giving her a gaunt look. The colour had leached out of her system, her hair and skin paler than before. The premature grey that had been only slightly noticeable was more prominent now, a side effect of the extended use of her abilities. As the scene drew to a close she closed her eyes. She couldn't watch this. Will went to give the screen back to Henry, before she grabbed his wrist. He gave her a surprised look before handing her the screen. Finding an outlet quickly, and not trusting her voice to explain, she hoped that she could still do this whilst exhausted. She placed her finger over the outlet before concentrating on her memories. Small sparks trickled into the socket, as a distorted image appeared on the screen. Will and Henry stared openly at the screen as the memory came in and out of focus. Most of the images were blurry and out of focus, except for one woman. She remained in focus the entire time.

"It is great of you to join us, Amber," The fuzzy distorted voice said, "I'm Diane, and I'm sure we're going to be the best of friends."

"Nobody ever calls me Amber, and in your dreams, bitch" Came another voice, clearer. It took a while for the two men to realise that this belonged to Amber.

"Now Amber, you are going to help us here today," continued the dialogue.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" sarcasm clearly evident.

"You can either choose to help us by your own free will, or by force. It is your choice, although I can tell you that the former will be more pleasant," she finished with a smile that remained in focus the entire time, only flickering once on the screen.

"Hmm, help my kidnappers? Sure I'll help you stick that crazy idea back up your…" Here the screen became static, crackling like crazy before becoming fully black.

Here the girl looked up, eyes flicking in between Will and Henry, before some text flitted across the screen.

"SHE NEEDS TO PAY"


	2. Escaped sparks

The darkness of night was broken as the residents were woken by a sudden piercing scream as the lights flickered constantly. Henry rushed into the room, being the first aware as he was still up when the disturbance hit. It was the first night with the new patient, and she was already proving to be troublesome. Henry rushed to her side, ignoring the tiny shocks of electricity prickling his skin. He went to shake her upper arm, momentarily forgetting the protective rubber gloves. His skin made contact with hers, shooting a volt up his arm, giving the sensation akin to hitting his funny bone, causing him to cuss loudly. The contact broke through to the patient however, waking her with a gasp.

Henry broke off from his violent string of words to turn to the girl, still flexing his arm in an attempt to regain feeling. He was surprised to see her awake and seemingly alert. Magnus had told them not to expect her to be awake until at least the next afternoon. Tears were sliding down her face, and she began to shake.

"Oh shit," Henry swore, reaching out to pat her on the arm before rethinking his actions and switching to the sleeved part of her shoulder. Magnus entered the room, impeccably dressed, as she too had still been up. Henry looked over his shoulder, giving her a helpless look as he continued patting the girl's shoulder awkwardly. Magnus marched up to the charts, a look of serious concentration on her face.

"Sorry," came the worn out voice, startling Henry. "I'm so, so sorry," she continued between sobs, "I didn't think they'd come back."

"Who would come back?" asked Helen, her voice full of concern, shooting Henry a questioning look. Henry shrugged,

"No one's here, the security sensors would have picked it up," he answered. "No one's here," he repeated to the girl.

Her sobs tapered off as she calmed herself down. Henry awkwardly stopped patting her back. "I know. I'm sorry, it was just a nightmare," she replied, looking up at Helen and Henry, giving a sad smile. She sat back in the bed, suddenly exhausted but unwilling to sleep.

"Have you had this nightmare before," questioned Magnus, ever perceptive.

"Yeah, I have," she replied guardedly, not wanting to continue on the subject. "Sorry, I haven't introduced myself," she said, changing tack before Magnus could question her any further on her dreams. "I'm Amber, but nobody ever calls me that," she started, "You can call me Pikachu."

"Like, as in Pikachu from Pokémon?" asked Henry incredulously, as Helen gave a blank stare, not in on the joke.

"Yeah, childhood nickname. I can't imagine how they came up with it," she joked, before realising that Helen wasn't following. "Uh, Pokémon? Pikachu is a cartoon character, like a mouse thing that controls electricity," she briefly explained, glad they had moved onto a different topic.

"Ah, I see," said Magnus, although it was clear that she didn't.

"You'll have to excuse Magnus, she's a little out of the loop when it comes to cartoons," joked Henry playfully.

"Wait, you're Magnus?" said Pika, looking at Helen closer, and surprising the two other people in the room.

"You've heard of me?" asked Magnus, only slightly surprised that this girl had heard of her.

"Yeah, back in Oz, I came up here to find you," continued Pika. "See, the Aussie Sanctuary isn't that big, you know, with most of our abnormals being extinct or capable of looking after themselves," she explained, "so when I turned up, they told me about a bigger, better protected Sanctuary run by someone called Magnus, which I'm guessing is you."

"I don't seem to understand, the Australian sanctuary seems to have sent you here with very little information," started Magnus, puzzled.

"Oh, well I was running from the Cabal, so time was, as they say, of the essence." Pika continued with her explanation, "the Cabal is in with the coal mining business, and I guess they saw me as a threat to their money-sucking-unrenewable energy source." She shrugged. "But it's all ok, coz I found you guys," Pika finished with a smile. She was content with believing with naivety that everything would be all right now that she had gotten to her destination.

"Well, you must be exhausted, we'll leave you to sleep," said Magnus, gesturing to Henry.

"Oh, uh, actually I have a few questions for Pikachu," said Henry, before adding quickly, "that is, if you're up for it." Magnus smiled and nodded before exiting the room.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, sitting up straighter in the bed before yawning.

Henry pointed towards the door before saying, "you sure, coz if you want me to leave so you can sleep-"

"No!" she interrupted quickly before amending, "no, I don't want to sleep right now." He studied her for a second before grabbing a chair from the side of the room.

"Well I was just wondering, well, that thing you did earlier, with the screen," he paused, hoping for her memory to jog. When it didn't he continued, "when you first woke up you put an image on my computer screen," another pause as he got up to find the screen in one of the drawers at the side of the room, "and I was just wondering how you did it," he finished awkwardly, handing her the screen.

"I was awake?" Pikachu said, a puzzled expression on her face as she tried to remember what had happened. The past week was mostly a blur.

"Uh, yeah, and you showed us something on the screen," said Henry leaning in. He placed his finger over the outlet she had found previously, "you put your finger here and then stuff came up on the screen," he said, "I think it was a memory, there was a woman," he trailed off, not sure whether he would upset her if he brought up painful memories.

She replaced his finger on the outlet, their hands brushing as he pulled his away. She continued looking at him, concentrating slightly. "Like this?" she asked as a distorted image came up on the screen. It was clearer than those first images from her memory. Henry's face filled the screen, the background out of focus. Henry leaned in to get a better look, and on-screen Henry did the same after a split-second delay. Strangely the colours were brighter on the screen than in real-life. The image flickered once and was gone as Pikachu felt herself get drained. She mused that she must have lost a lot of energy as usually it lasted almost indefinitely.

Henry looked back and forth between the girl and the monitor, unable to hide his delight at what he had just seen. "Just like that, except it wasn't what you were seeing, but what you had already seen," he stated, acting like an oversized puppy in his excitement. "How'd you do it?"

"Electricity," she said simply, giving a small smile before launching into an explanation, unconcerned as to whether Henry would follow. Most people didn't. "You see, TVs, computers and radios work through converting electrical signals into light and sound. By inserting different pulses I can manipulate what picture or sound they give out, although it is hardly perfect." She looked up, finding Henry following every word.

"But how do you know what pulses to send through?" he asked, eager to know everything about her ability.

"I dunno, luck I guess," She shrugged, "I just think about what I want to happen on the screen and it just happens. Sound only is much much easier." She yawned, unable to hold back the clear sign of her exhaustion.

"Shit, I've tired you out," exclaimed Henry, getting to his feet.

"No, don't leave," she said, almost fully waking in a panic. She didn't want her nightmares to return. She was immediately embarrassed by her actions, her sign of weakness. "I just, I don't want the nightmare to return," she said sheepishly. Henry slowly sank back into his chair. "I mean, if that's ok with you," she added.

"No it's fine, I still got some work to do," he said, picking up and waving the handheld screen. "You just get some sleep," he said, giving her a quick smile before turning to the screen as she settled in to sleep.

"Thanks, I owe you," she muttered drowsily before dropping into exhaustion. The reassurance of Henry prevented the dream from immediately returning to haunt her.

CABAL

There was a mad scurry of activity in the programming room. It had been 2 days since the rescue and most of the computers had been converted from their previous activity to the new search. Diane hovered in the background, her lips forming a thin line from the tension. All this effort to acquire this girl and in barely a day she had been stolen. On a large screen the security camera placed above the door inside the girls containment played on a constant loop. This was the only camera not connected to the grid, powered solely by the girl's electricity. It was also the only one not shut off when the robbers has struck. The doors swings open, and a man runs in, his gait awkward from the occasional zap of electricity. He is dressed entirely in black, save the pink dishwashing gloves. He undoes the girl's straps, pulls off the electrodes and removes the drip from her arm. He pulls her hand off the globe, dislocating the needle inserted in her hand. He has half turned around when the power to the camera is cut off. The video then starts again, from where he runs in.

Diane groaned angrily, before hitting the pause button, unable to watch another second of her failure. This girl was imperative to their project. She was highly aware of the time frame on how long the project could go without the electricity supply. The high-energy demands that would normally be way beyond that that could be supplied by conventional means were a pinch to this girl. That and a constant drip full of adrenaline. Diane storms into the programmer room, stalking up to the first of the men at a computer. "Have you found anything?" she spat, struggling to regain her normally ice-cold composure.

"Uh, were working on it Ma'am," he stammered. "We do have several leads…" he broke off as she gestured for him to show her. "We'll, we narrowed it down to the people who would have the resources to shut down our system," he started nervously, before picking up the pace as he remained uninterrupted, "that and those who would want the girl," he paused, bringing up a still shot from the security camera, of a man carrying a girl, half turned towards the screen. "We then cross referenced this man with our system. We are just waiting for the results," he indicated the bars filling up at the bottom of the screen.

"Good," Diane muttered, mostly to herself, regaining a little of her previous calm. "Send me the results as soon as they are in." She turned and exited the room to go back to her office. She sat down, reclining in her chair, smiling as she planned the demise of those who would choose to steal from her. She may be only a representative of the Cabal, but she took her job very seriously, one of the reasons she got the position. It wouldn't be long before she knew their identity. She didn't have to wait long before there was a timid knock on her door. "Come in," she called.

The programmer scurried in, holding a file. "Ma'am, we've found him in our system," he said, holding out the file for her to take. "A previous experiment, he was captured but sadly escaped."

"Thankyou," Diane said coldly, reaching out and taking the file, which opened on a picture accompanied by the name Henry Foss.

SANCTUARY

Kate walked through what seemed to be an empty building, dragging her stuffed suitcase behind her. "Hello?" she called, hoping they hadn't forgotten about her. Despite her tough girl attitude she was beginning to like this place. "Hello?" she called again, leaving her suitcase in the hall before entering Helen's office.

"Ah, Kate," said Magnus, looking up from her screen, "and how was your trip to England?" she continued, before starting to type again.

"Sunny," said Kate sarcastically, "and I don't appreciate being messenger girl." She withdrew a package from her bag, placing it upon the desk. "What is this thing anyway," she asked, handing it over as Magnus picked it up, testing its weight.

"Oh, just some boring artefact," she said, before placing it to the side. Kate strolled around the room, looking incredibly bored.

"You know, I'm gonna go unpack my stuff," she said on her way to the door, "My room's still mine right? I mean, you haven't gone and given it to some abnormal have you?" she asked, ever paranoid. Magnus gave a small smile,

"It is still yours."

Pikachu sat across the room from Will, who was looking at her intently. "I'm telling you that's all I remember," she said sullenly, playing with a spark in the air.

"But there may be something we missed," he continued, pushing the point, "Any information you give us will help us to help you." Pikachu sighed angrily, giving up on her little spark as it sizzled away to nothing.

"Lets go back to the beginning," said Will, backtracking before he lost control of the conversation. "When did you first start getting these powers?"

"I've been able to do the small stuff since forever, like making people's hair stick up and making screens go fuzzy," started Pikachu the bored tone in her voice disappearing as she began to talk about her powers, "but about 2 years ago it got way easier and I was less tired afterwards. That was about the time that I began to figure out wiping stuff and playing with screens. Before I went to school I used to think it was normal to be a little bit," she paused, searching for the right word, "static."

"Right," said Will, going over the details again in his head, "but what made you seek the Sanctuary?" he asked, looking at her directly, "I mean, from what you say, you had a good life over there, nothing that would compel you to run away."

Pikachu sat back in her chair, wishing that they had stuck to the topic of her powers. "Well, I didn't really have any friends, and my powers were starting to get out of control." She paused, slowing down, "I thought I could deal with it, but I couldn't, and my parents were no help at all," she shrugged, "so I ran away."

Will gave her a disbelieving look, staring at her as she fidgeted in her chair. His eyes were drawn to her lips, as they were strained tight, and to then to her eyes, as she refused to look at him. He knew she was withholding something. "You were wiped from every system and database," he said slowly, judging her reaction, "if you just ran away, why not just leave those links there, did you think someone would be after you?" She looked up at this.

"No, I was angry," she stated forcefully, "when I'm angry I destroy things, so I destroyed all the links." She looked at Will, her eyes narrowing to slits as she found his expression guarded. She continued, moving the conversation away from dangerous ground, "So I was on my own for about a month before the Cabal first tried to get me, but they underestimated me," she said with a self-satisfied smile at the memory of their failure, "but it was close so I hitchhiked my way to the Sanctuary near Canberra and they sent me here to you." She concluded, sitting back in her chair.

Will studied her for another moment, weighing up all that she had said. It didn't seem to fit to him. "Are you sure that is all? Do you know how the Cabal found you?" He said leaning forward in his chair.

"Yeah that is it, what reason would I have to keep stuff from you? The Cabal has it's way of finding things, just like you guys" she folded her arms across her chest, "besides, if you guys really are looking out for me, how come I have had to live in the same clothes for three days straight?" bringing Will's attention to her jeans and a shirt ensemble which they had found her in, and were the same as the ones in the original footage of her kidnapping. "I mean really," she continued, "I hate shopping to bits and right now I am craving it, just to be out of these clothes."

"The Cabal is still looking for you," said Will pointedly slightly embarrassed by the image of the 19 year old out of her clothes, "you have to lay low for a little while."

"Yeah, well I'll just blame you when I start to smell bad," she continued, not deterred by his logic, "it is all well and good for you, you can run away from the smell, I won't be able to escape it."

Will sighed, trying to return to the previous point, "so you don't remember anything else?"

"As I said before, I would have told you," she said exasperatedly.

There was a slight tap on the door before Kate entered partially, leaning on the doorframe.

"I thought I heard angry voices," started Kate, looking at Will, "and it made me wonder, which resident you were interrogating today," she finished with a smirk. Will ruffled his hand through his hair, sighing before turning to introduce Pikachu to Kate, both of them late in noticing her reaction to the stranger. The colour had drained out of her face, and she had risen with her hands outstretched defensively, the tiniest of sparks jittering across her palms, over the recently healed scars of the needles.

Will got up quickly, moving in between the two girls. "Wow, you got a jumpy one here," said Kate coolly, the only indication of her alertness in that she no longer lent against the doorframe.

"Pikachu, this is Kate, she's a," he paused here to look over at Kate, who was examining her fingernails, "friend," he finished unconvincingly. "Kate, this is Pikachu," he finished the introduction, studying Pikachu's reaction. She nodded before curling her hands into balls and lowering them to her sides. Kate looked up, a grin widening on her face.

"Wait, let me get this straight," she said, walking up to Pikachu, having clearly missed seeing the sparks fly from her fingertips earlier. "You're name is Pikachu? You have got to be joking me," she started, as Pikachu silently uncurled her fingers glaring at Kate.

Henry hurried through the hallway, trying to find Will and Pikachu. He had a new theory about her electricity to test. He paused slightly at the sight of a red suitcase propped up against the wall, reminding him that Kate must be back from England. He reached the corridor where his computer had told him where Will and Pikachu were, when the sudden sound of Will yelling before a flash and a yelp was heard. Panicked he entered the room. Will had his arms around Pikachu, restraining her, his hair standing more on end with the static. A nasty scorch mark had appeared in the carpet where Pikachu was standing, and it lead in a snaking line to Kate. Kate was propped against the wall, where she sat temporarily in shock, her normally straightened hair fuzzy. Henry rushed to her side, where she brushed him off, before attempting to get up. "What happened?" he asked, looking around the room at all three of them.

"Your new pet tried to kill me, that's what happened," said Kate, whilst rubbing her head where it had hit the wall. Henry turned to look at Pikachu, who was now free from the restraints of Will's arms.

"Bitch," she spat at Kate, before sitting down in the chair, slightly drained. Will explained in a slightly exasperated voice, "Kate was being Kate and insulted Pikachu."

"You say that as if it's my fault," complained Kate. Will and Henry exchanged a look at this. "I'm sorry, ok," Kate threw the apology at Pikachu, not really caring if it was accepted.

"Yeah, whatever," countered Pikachu, still distrustful. Kate gave her a disbelieving look, before walking out, still rubbing her head.

"Well, that went well," reflected Will, giving Pikachu a disproving look. Pikachu rolled her eyes.

"She was a bitch," she said before shrugging, "it's hardly my fault, anyway this is all beside the point."

"There's a point now is there?' asked Will, as Henry waited in the background.

"Yeah, the point where if I don't get some new clothes, I'm gonna have to start borrowing some off you," she said pointedly, looking him up and down dismissively, "not that that's a problem or anything," sarcasm dripping off her voice.

"Uh, hey Pikachu," interrupted Henry, eager to put facts behind his new theory.

"Henry would let me borrow his clothes," she said pointedly, half joking, causing Henry to blush.

"Uh, actually, I had a question for you," said Henry, awkwardly changing the topic.

"Yeah, sure, come to try the newest test for the new sparky toy," she said angrily, before realising she was attacking the wrong person. "Sorry, didn't mean it," she said quickly, "I'm just a little on edge today," she said, sweeping her hand over the destroyed carpet. "Happy to help," she said, grabbing Henry's arm, steering him out of the room, afraid that Will might protest about his interview being disrupted. She dropped her arm when they were out the door. "Sorry, I just needed to get out of there," she stated as they began walking back to the computer room. "Will is very… intense," she said, looking over her shoulder ensuring he wasn't following.

"Yeah, he can be like that," said Henry, before returning to his theory.

"So I was thinking, if we added…"

CABAL

Diane stood on the ledge that led to the stairs, overlooking the room. Her eyes inspected the vast object in the center of the room. The perfect containment vessel. The expression on her face was like that of a cat dreaming of hunting mice, malicious with intent. She was fully pleased with her plans to regain the lost specimen, and of how to deal with the captors. She absently fingered the corner of the file in her hand. She had studied the contents until they were memorised, and had seen the irony at first glance. A previous escapee returning help another to escape. They were two of the incredibly small list of those who had made it out of the cabal, and Diane felt that she was completely up to the job of returning them back there. The trap was set and it was time to catch two birds with one stone.

She stalked out of the room, pulling her mobile phone out of her pocket, hitting speed dial. She waited patiently for it to connect whilst walking back to her office. A man answered on the third tone. "Hello Diane," came the confident tone from the other end, "I trust all is well?"

"Yes, I am just confirming that all is on track, by this time tomorrow we should have regained the lost specimen, along with one of her captors, we are just waiting for our bargaining chip to arrive," she said smoothly, "you will be pleased to know that he was previously in the care of the Cabal."

"Really? That is good news," replied the voice, his tone still indifferent.

"Yes, a Mr Henry Foss, he is currently in the employment of Helen Magnus in the Sanctuary," she said, calmly dropping this bombshell, "hopefully her loss will make her reconsider the actions she has taken against the Cabal."

"Yes, hopefully, although the priority is in reacquiring the lost specimen do not forget," said the voice, the smallest hint of smugness now emanating, "Magnus has been a problem for sometime now which will hopefully be solved by your little enterprise." There was a brief pause before he added, "providing you do not fail."

"Oh, I won't," was the last thing said before the call disconnected.


	3. Electron Transfer

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting (I totally broke my rule of releasing each chapter on the 10th). But I have an epic excuse that I went to a Sanctuary convention, and met both Robin Dunne and Amanda Tapping :). So yes, please enjoy and I hope you like it.

* * *

SANCTUARY

Pikachu pulled the badly fitting clothes on, before examining her reflection. She gave a little spin, before giving up. Whilst not overly big, they clearly belonged to someone with an entirely different body shape. The pants were clearly built for a larger person as they hung loosely on her non-existent hips, threatening to fall off at any second, and the top was stretched across the bust. She paused, examining her reflection again. The white in her hair had spread further, marking her growth in power. Once brown, it now hung in streaky waves past her shoulders. Stepping back, Pikachu cursed her body shape again, before pulling the clothes off and reaching for her own, dirty clothes. "I can't wear those," she yelled through the door, whilst getting dressed.

"Good," said Kate, entering without knocking as Pikachu finished getting changed. "You would probably ruin them anyway, now go annoy someone else," she said, waiting impatiently at the door for her unwelcome guest to leave.

"Sure, anything to get out of this dump," shot Pikachu, tired of the enmity, exiting the filthy room promptly, completely dissatisfied in her attempt to find clean clothing, yet unwilling to bring the issue up with Magnus, who seemed to be busy all of the time.

"Wait before you go," said Kate, causing her to stop part way down the corridor.

"What?" said Pikachu, turning to look at Kate, her expression guarded. Kate pulled an iPod out of her pocket, waving it slightly.

"I'm nearly out of battery," she said, a smirk on her face. Pikachu threw a glare in her direction, turning around and walking away, not wasting the effort on a retort.

In his lab, Henry was concentrating on his new project. He was busy connecting wires when an alert popped up on his screen. He looked up quickly, before putting his tools down in a hurry. He put his Bluetooth intercom system on, calling Magnus, as he ran the file for viruses. A small knock on the door distracted him momentarily. He turned slightly, seeing Pikachu and waved her in. She was silent, seeing that he was busy. "Yes Henry?" came Magnus' voice through his earpiece.

"A new file has just been sent through from an unknown source," said Henry as the findings from the virus screen came up clean. ""It is clean of viruses, so I'll send it through to your screen and open it here," he finished, typing quickly before sitting back in his chair. "Are you getting a clear picture?" he asked as a video clip automatically opened. "Yes, thankyou Henry," replied Magnus before silence fell as they watched the clip, Pikachu peering curiously over Henry's shoulder as the scene unfolded.

Text flitted across the screen. "Hello, to all at the Sanctuary," it started, erasing itself as quickly as it had appeared. "We are aware that you have recently stolen something of ours," the text erased before a picture of Pikachu flashed up on the screen. "We would like to propose a trade, for now we have something that is very special to her," the screen went blank. Henry turned to look over his shoulder at Pikachu, who had turned very white. She shook her head, still staring at the screen. Henry turned back to face it, finding a picture of a slim girl with hair dyed bright purple glaring at the camera. She was sitting in a tiled room, the cold lighting highlighting her pale round face.

Pikachu backed away, bumping the desk slightly with her hip. Magnus' voice broke through the Bluetooth into Henry's ear, "just a second boss," he muttered, alarmed at Pikachu's reaction.

"It can't be," she started, stunned by the image that was frozen on the screen.

"You know her?" enquired Henry, concerned.

"They can't have found her," she said, partially snapping back to reality. "I did everything to hide her, wiped her from every system linking her to me," her voice fell to a whisper, "how the hell did they find her?" She looked at Henry, wishing him to tell her that he didn't think they had. He remained silent before pressing a button on his Bluetooth.

"Magnus, we'll meet you in your office," he said before adding, "I'll page Will too." The signal disconnected, as Henry started to steer Pikachu out of the room.

Will paced around the room, trying to put facts together. Magnus was sitting, her fingers resting on her temples deep in thought, as Pikachu sat meekly in the chair. She hadn't spoken since what she had just seen. "So let me get this straight," said Will, breaking the silence as he went over what was happening, "the Cabal wants a trade, Pikachu for this girl, whoever she is." His pacing became more aggressive as he thought about the logic, "I mean, who is she and why is she that important?" he paused looking at Magnus, "Is she an abnormal?" He resumed pacing, scratching his head. "Have you found anything on her?" he asked Henry, glancing at Pikachu as if he had the urge to interrogate her on the matter.

Henry was busy tapping away at his computer, giving a few concerned looks at Pikachu, as she remained silent. He started shaking his head, "nope, can't answer any of your questions," he rested the screen against his lap, looking up, "she is on no databases, there are no photos of her anywhere on the net. Either she has never had her photo taken or she doesn't exist."

"Jasmine Anderson," came the quite reply from Pikachu. She looked over at Will, "I lied about not having friends back home," before turning to Henry and saying, "you won't find anything on her online, I deleted it all." This statement was met by a puzzled look from Henry.

"But you don't just delete files," he started, "they leave traces, ghost copies," he started, rerunning the search to include ghost files on his computer, "and even then, deleting every single mention of her name and photo, it just isn't possible," he finished, giving her a bewildered look. She reached over, touching the power outlet on the side and closing her eyes.

Words and random pictures flashed up on the screen, a countless stream that flashed too quickly for the eye to fully focus on each individual image. Some images paused for a split second. After 10 seconds, a folder appeared into which all the files disappeared. "That's everything," she said, opening her eyes to find the entire room staring at her. "What?" she said, looking at the bewildered faces.

Helen stood up, as Henry and Will both stared open-mouthed at Pikachu. "How did you do that?" she said, walking round to the front of the desk.

"What?" she repeated, looking down at the screen then up at the faces still staring at her. "I only replaced the files that I had wiped, that is all," she said, unaware of how her powers had stretched their imaginings of the possible, which is quite a fete.

Magnus sat on the edge of her desk, thinking out loud, "you seem to have stored the information like a memory chip," she leaned in closer, "I would love to have a scan of your brain, in order to figure out how exactly that works."

"Only if you want to screw up your equipment, I have no idea of what scanning me would do to them," came Pikachu's sharp retort as she became frustrated with the situation. "Besides it will have to wait until after we rescue my best friend. She is pretty much all I have left."

"I'm sorry," said Magnus, getting back on track. "Henry, can you trace where that message came from so we can get a perspective with exactly which part of the Cabal we are dealing with?"

"Sure, onto it," said Henry, shooting a quick sympathetic glance at Pikachu before turning to his work.

"Will, do you have any views about how to deal with this?" asked Helen, paving the way for some input on his behalf.

"Well I don't think I need to say that this has to be a trap," said Will, his mind buzzing through the different facts surrounding their situation. "Which leads me to believe that they will try to contact us again," he paused, "what I'm worried about is that we don't even know what they were using with all that power, what kind of experiment they were performing that would use that amount of electricity."

Pikachu looked up at Will, her eyes narrowing, "We are going to go help her right?" When no answer was forthcoming she continued, "we have to save her, and whatever your plan is I'm going to be there."

Magnus met her gaze, "We aren't going to make a move until we know more," her words causing Pikachu to stand up angrily, "we must enter this with caution, otherwise we would be delivering the cabal exactly what they want."

"Are you kidding!" exclaimed Pikachu, unable to comprehend Magnus' reasoning of waiting. Will stepped forward to intervene, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. She threw it off angrily as sparks began to jitter across her skin, "fuck this shit, if you aren't going to help her, then I'll do it myself," she stormed out of the room angrily. It took everyone a second to react to this before Magnus looked at Will, conveying for him to try and reason with her.

Pikachu walked quickly down the corridor, struggling not to break into a run. Will jogged to catch up with her, calling her name. "Hey, hold on a sec," he said, putting his hand on her arm to stop her before quickly pulling it back as her excess energy shocked him. She halted, her back still turned to him. "Storming out of here is not going to help your friend," said Will trying to use logic.

"And sitting around on our asses doing nothing isn't going to do anything either," she said, turning to face him. "You don't understand, she is only in trouble because of me," she said angrily. A tear escaped, shimmering slightly with sparks where it made contact with her skin. She wiped it away quickly, smudging her mascara slightly. "Without me, she would be living a normal life, not being kidnapped by some big corporation," her voice started to quaver, "if I were normal none of this crap would have happened."

Will sighed, "Being abnormal is nothing to be ashamed of, besides you are hardly in any kind of state to help her right now are you?" he said logically, leading her to one of the chairs at the end of the hallway. She nodded meekly, trusting him, before sitting down. "It isn't your fault you know," said Will kindly. Pikachu looked up, silent as he continued, "it is the Cabal's for involving her."

Pikachu shook her head, "I always knew they would use her against me, that is why I hid her," she stared at the floor, "in order to save her I had to lose her, and even then it wasn't enough." The sparks on her skin slowly disappeared as she regained control of her emotions.

"You did all you could," said Will, putting a comforting arm around her, "and I know Magnus, she is going to do everything in her power to make sure we get Jasmine back unharmed."

Pikachu looked Will in the eyes, "thankyou," she said, giving a little smile. Her eyes flicked up and down his face, finding no traces of insincerity. She leaned into his arm, welcoming the comfort. Will's arm twitched as he felt the hum of electrical energy under her skin. As she calmed down it dropped to a comfortable level. "Ok, I'll wait for a while," she said after a moment, "but you have to promise me that I am part of the plan."

Will nodded, "I'll have to talk to Magnus, but I'll do whatever I can. In the meantime, I was wondering if you knew why the Cabal needed the huge amount of electricity?" he paused, testing to see if he was pushing too hard. Pikachu sat up properly, thinking hard.

"I dunno, I was unconscious for most of it," she started slowly, racking her brains for anything she knew. "Most of what I remember didn't even happen." Will picked up on this, twisting to face her,

"Didn't happen, like hallucinations?" he asked, "Sometimes hallucinations can be manipulated by surroundings," he continued, considering the possibility that the hallucinations held the key to what the Cabal was doing. "What do you remember from these hallucinations?"

"Well, I'm running," came her reluctant reply, "and I don't know where I am, or where I'm going and there are Cabal men in a van coming after me." She stopped, regaining her composure before continuing, "Anyway, I can't escape them and then they shoot me before it all starts over again, although lately that is when I wake up."

Will gave her a critical look, "lately?"

"It's nothing," she said, brushing it off, "But that's it, all I remember." Pikachu looked down, uncomfortable with the topic.

"Well, if you remember anything, you know where to find me," he said. Pikachu looked up, finding Will's face close to her. Her eyes flicked to his lips then back to his eyes. She leaned in slightly, As Will did the same. A few seconds passed, before she caught herself. She pulled back abruptly, Her body becoming tense as her walls flew back up.

"Hey Willl," called Kate, her sudden appearance in the hall startling both of them, with Will jumping to his feet, "What is it?"

"Hold your horses, Mr Keen," came Kate's lazy reply, "just coming to tell you that Henry may have found something to do with the Cabal's experiments with little miss sparky here." Pikachu glared at Kate, before they followed her back into the Magnus' office.

"So I found the Cabal where we found Pikachu, and hacked their computer systems," said Henry when they were all present in the room. "I found out that they had a major shipment in only a few days before the spike change in electricity, which is when you arrived," Henry gestured to Pikachu. "Whatever they shipped in, took only one container, and it looks like it was alive."

"What, an abnormal?" interrupted Magnus, "can you find out where they shipped it from?"

"According to this, from a remote mountain near Greece, although the file is encrypted, I can't access any information on the contents of the container," replied Henry, frowning.

"Will," spoke up Pikachu suddenly, "I remember something from my dream." Kate made a scoffing sound, but was quickly silenced by a sharp look from Will.

"Really, what is it?" His sudden interest caused Pikachu to falter,

"It's probably nothing, but throughout it I can hear this sort of screeching sound," she said, fully aware that she had taken the spotlight.

"Really?" said Magnus, taking an interest, "could you describe this sound?"

"Better than," said Pikachu, "do you have some speakers or something?" she directed her question toward Henry who began rummaging through his bag, before pulling out some black speakers.

"These do?" he asked, holding them out. Pikachu, accepted them, looking over the connection cables.

"Perfect," she said, placing her hand over the outlet, "It'll probably be a little fuzzy, but it sounded something like this," she closed her eyes before a screeching sound filled the room.

The high-pitched keening continued, wavering slightly before Pikachu stopped the connection. "What the fuck was that?" said Kate, her face expressing her discomfort.

"I may be wrong," started Magnus, returning to her computer, "but that sounded like a type of prehistoric bird, although the sound is too distorted for me to tell exactly what type." She looked up at Henry, "You said it came from Greece?" Magnus said before she began typing. Cross-referencing the known abnormals found naturally in the area with known abnormal bird types.

"I'll let you know when I have found something, in the meantime Henry, can you bring up the blueprints of the Cabal so that we can plan our entry." She said, dismissing them from the impromptu meeting.

CABAL

Diane stalked down the corridor impatiently, the green tinted light sucking the light out of her face. One of the scientists walked by her side, scurrying to keep up, clipboard in hand. "It appears that the ransom note has been received by the Sanctuary, and the second note shall be sent through in a few hours," he started eagerly.

"Good," came the cool reply from Diane. "This girl was a lucky find. Tell me again how you found her," she said, pausing to look through the tiny window on the door to a locked cell. A teenage girl was huddled in the corner, her knees pulled up to her chest. She looked up, her fading purple hair a tangled mess around a face that showed the evidence of a less-than-gentle capture.

"Ah well, it wasn't easy," said the scientist, eager to please his boss, "we had to go through the Australian Cabal's files when we discovered that someone had deleted personal information about Amber, nicknames, friends, school and such," he chuckled, "they had made a real mess of it, so we researched the blanks." The conversation halted a little as Diane resumed her brisk walk down the corridor. "Seeing as her family couldn't be found, her friend was the most ideal choice of hostage."

"Of course," was the cold reply, not allowing him the satisfaction of recognition for his work. "And how is the other project going?" she started on the new topic of the experiment, "Is it still stable?" They reached a door, the code panel lit bright green as Diane swiped her security tag over it before entering the 6-digit code sequence.

"Yes, still stable, but becoming less so by the day," came the speedy reply. "Without the energy supply to maintain stability, progress has ceased and we are very much in danger of losing control before completion." Diane strode into the room, confident that her plan in regaining Amber would be successful. She walked up to the large reinforced glass cage in the center of the room, looking thoughtfully before taking the clipboard off the scientist. She flicked through, glancing at each page.

"Yes well, by this time tomorrow, we will have both the abnormal girl and the werewolf in our grasp," she said, peering in to study the prone form in the middle of the glass cage. "And then everything will be back on track." She handed the clipboard back before turning and exiting the room.

Inside the cage the figure twitched before blinking a huge bronze-coloured eye.


	4. Voltage resistance

AN: Hey, so I know that this is a day late, but I nearly didn't publish at all. Although I thought that the momentary break that Sanctuary on the tv (and can someone please tell me when that is going to end already?) meant that I really did have to publish during this drought. So if I, at any point, pull this chapter down or tweak it a little that is the reason.

So read, enjoy, and possibly drop me a note with opinions and comments. :)

* * *

SANCTUARY

"_Aquila stymphalius_," came Magnus' excited voice. Will, Henry, Kate and Pikachu looked up from the blueprints that Henry had hacked off the Cabal's computer.

"Come again?" said Will, startled by Magnus.

"The abnormal they have at the Cabal," she said excitedly, "it is a rare form of bird, thought to be extinct, _Aquila stymphalius, _a large armoured eagle, common name Stymphalian bird," she looked around the room. "I would so very much like to bring it here for observation.

"Hey, I think I've heard of that," said Henry slowly. Pikachu also looked at Magnus,

"Me too," said Pikachu slowly before adding hastily, "but way before all of this Cabal nonsense."

Henry slapped his forehead, "of course, Thor volume 1,"

"Number 129," finished Pikachu. Henry looked up at her,

"You read comics?" he said,

"Well, duh," replied Pikachu, "I dabble a little, although I'm more of the X-Men type," she said with a smile. "That Storm character is pretty damn hot if you know what I mean," she joked.

"Sorry to interrupt planet of the geeks here, but I still don't get what is going on," said Kate, looking quizzically at Magnus.

"_Aquila stymphalius_, or the Stymphalian bird, is part of the Greek legend of Heracles. The legends say that one of tasks set out by the gods was to drive off the Stymphalian birds that had nested near the villages." Came Magnus' reply, having memorised the knowledge. "They are huge predatory birds, legend says that they had feathers made of bronze that they could shoot like arrows, there hasn't been a sighting in over a century."

"Right," said Kate slowly, "so some big ancient predator with the ability to shoot weapons out of its body is being held in the Cabal, and let me guess, we are going to save it," said Kate dramatically.

"But of course," said Magnus, "I wouldn't dream of missing this opportunity," she walked over, briefly scanning the blueprints, "so what have we got so far?"

Here Will stepped in, eager to voice his ideas on the plans. "Well, first we are going to need a larger truck than we had planned, if we are going to be transporting the bird as well, how big is 'huge' anyway?" he paused, looking up at Magnus, who replied,

"About a meter tall, with a wingspan of two meters, although I am sketchy on the details."

"Right," said Will, trying to get his head around the proportions on this beast. "Well, first, Henry and Pikachu will dismantle the security devices and then we will split into teams, Henry and Kate will go together to find Jasmine, and Magnus, Pikachu and I will find the Stymphalian bird," he glanced at each person as he said their names, judging their reaction. "I'm guessing that the security around Jasmine will be the basic guarded locked door seeing as she has little chance of escaping," he pointed to a room on the blueprints, "Here is the most likely place for them to be keeping her, as soon as you have her get out of there."

He then turned towards Magnus, "You, Pikachu and I will look for the Stymphalian bird, who is most likely to be contained here," his finger moved over a different part of the map showing a large room with multiple security devices marked.

Magnus smiled at Will, "That seems like a sound plan," she said. "Let me know if there are further developments from the Cabal," she said, making her exit. "Oh and Will, when you have a minute, I would like to see you in my office?" she looked at him expectedly.

"Right," said Will before turning back to the blueprints.

"You wanted to talk to me?" asked Will as he entered Magnus' office.

"Yes, take a seat," said Magnus, getting up to join him. "Now I'm aware that I haven't been as involved as I could have been lately," she began before Will interrupted,

"Which is completely understandable," he said gently. Magnus gave him a stern look,

"You don't have to be gentle with me Will, I am perfectly aware that I haven't been myself lately." She paused before continuing, "But I didn't call you in here to talk about me, it is about our new guest."

"What, Pikachu?" said Will, puzzled, "what about her?"

"I analysed the scans we took from when she first came in, and I found the results quite surprising," started Helen, getting up and beckoning Will over to her computer. "See this?" she indicated towards a dark patch near the heart on a full-body scan of Pikachu.

"Yeah," said Will, leaning in to get a better look, "What is that?" he queried.

"It appears that that is the source of her power, you see I took another scan last night when she was asleep," Helen moved the mouse and clicked on another file. The file opened up, showing how the dark patch had grown slightly larger. "You see, this indicates that her powers have grown since she has been here."

"Wait, you took this in her sleep?" said Will, "Isn't that a breach of trust or something?"

Helen looked up at Will, "You haven't noticed that she is quite touchy whenever it comes to scans and tests?"

"Well yeah, but it is an expected reaction considering what she has been through," Will replied slowly.

"I wanted it to be the least invasive without making her nervous, who knows how her emotions would have influenced the readings from the test," continued Magnus. She turned back to the screen, pulling up another file, "Henry ran these diagnostics, measuring the electrical fluctuations, and the spikes have doubled in output in the few days she has been here." A line graph appeared on the screen, showing the huge increase in spikes. Will leant back in his chair, running his hand through his hair.

"What are you saying here?" he said cautiously.

Helen turned to look at him directly, "What I am saying is that Pikachu may well grow into an abnormal of power equivalent to Big Bertha, given the opportunity."

Will's expression grew alarmed, "As in tectonic plates moving Big Bertha?"

Helen grew deadly serious, "Will, if Pikachu grew to her full potential she could create city-wide blackouts, influence the weather or even be used as a living bomb," Helen waited for this to sink in before continuing, "the other Sanctuaries are deliberating on the next course of action, she is an extremely valuable asset for whoever is in possession of her." Helen took a deep breath before adding, "That isn't all."

Will gave her an incredulous look, "Because we haven't got enough bad news as it is," his sarcastic tone sounding slightly strained.

"I contacted the Canberra Sanctuary, and they say they have no record of Pikachu at all, they only have knowledge of her from when she left Australia." Helen paused, waiting for Will to react.

"So something else happened that made her leave the country," he said slowly, thinking hard on the topic. "Well, for now, the rescue attempt should go ahead," said Will after a moment's deliberation. "And as soon as possible, before her powers grow too much," he looked up at Magnus, who smiled her approval.

Henry and Kate were carrying bales of hay off a cart into an enclosure. "Man, this is a lot of effort just for one big stupid bird," huffed Kate, as she dumped another bale onto the floor. Henry gave her a disproving look as he reached for the next bale.

"A rare abnormal bird," he corrected, hefting a bale. "One that we are not leaving in the hands of a cabal."

"Yeah I get it," came Kate's exasperated reply. She sighed, "So when are we going to launch this attack anyway?" Henry dumped his hay bale loudly,

"As soon as everything is ready," came his vague reply, "I'm just the tech guy, maybe you should ask Will."

"Maybe I will," countered Kate before stalking from the room.

"Great," said Henry to himself, before shouting after her, "don't worry, I'm fine hefting these all by myself."

"Really, coz I was gonna offer you a hand," came a voice from the shadows, startling Henry. He looked up to see Pikachu come in. She sighed before continuing, "I thought she would never leave," moving in before planting herself on one of the bales.

"You don't like Kate?" asked Henry, getting over his shock quickly. Pikachu rolled her eyes,

"Because electrocuting her wasn't a good enough indicator." She shrugged it off, "I dunno, for some unknown reason she seems to hate me."

"Probably because now she isn't the new girl," stated Henry, going over to sit next to Pikachu. "Besides, being the only non-abnormal must be taking a toll," he said, insightfully.

"Yeah sure, like Cordelia in _Angel_," Pikachu stated and then recapped after a confused look from Henry, before she elaborated, using air quotes" You know, the whole 'Look at me, I'm not super, but I'm still badass' act."

Henry smiled at the reference, "Well lets hope that she doesn't end up getting impregnated with a shiny demon child bringing world peace, oh wait maybe we do," he said cheekily, causing Pikachu to laugh. "You should do that more often," He said, catching her off guard.

"What?" she enquired, the remnants of her laugh still in her voice.

"Laugh," he said, nudging her shoulder playfully, "It suits you," he finished, before looking away, quickly becoming embarrassed. Pikachu smiled again,

"Believe it or not, I used to all the time before my life went all," she mimed an explosion, flippantly over viewing the mess her life had become.

"Come on, it can't be that bad," suggested Henry.

"You kidding?" said Pikachu, pulling her knees up, "the past two years have been a montage of crappy events. I went from a normal girl who could do a few party tricks into a freak show. I spent about a year living on the streets, and now it seems that despite my best efforts I've managed to lose everything." Henry put an awkward hand on hers, giving a small squeeze.

"You haven't lost her yet, and I know Magnus will do everything she possibly can to save her." Henry said with a smile before backtracking, "Wait, you were on the streets for a year?" a half disbelieving expression on his face.

Pikachu smiled wickedly, "Lets just say my ability came in quite handy when it came to electronically protected goods. I haven't paid for clothes in such a long time."

"So, Australia huh," started Henry awkwardly, shying away from the topic, "What's it like there?"

"Oh please, you aren't going to ask me to say something stereotypical are you," came Pikachu's sarcastic reply. "Australia was home," she said seriously.

"Was?" questioned Henry, turning to face her properly, "What about family? Don't they still live there?" Pikachu turned away, getting up and moving over to the now small stack of bales.

"I just can't go back, that's all," she said quietly, attempting to lift a bale.

Henry glanced her way, aware of the reaction his words had had before a sudden beeping sound filled the room, causing him to jump up, scrambling for the computer. When he saw the screen, he dialled Helen in, "Hey, doc, you know how Will said the Cabal would contact us again?" he started, causing Pikachu to perk up.

"Send it through Henry," Magnus' voice came smoothly over the communications system.

Henry glanced at Pikachu before clicking on the file. A movie started to play. The screen steadied on a familiar face. Pikachu whispered her name in the silence before the woman started to speak. "Diane."

"Hello there Helen," began Diane smoothly, "A couple of weeks ago, you stole something from the Cabal, as I am sure you are well aware." The room in which Diane was standing seemed to be a viewing room, the cold blue light highlighting the window situated directly behind her. "As I am well aware that we have something of importance to Amber." The camera focused through the window, showing a stark room with a single, easily recognisable occupant. Jasmine. The once-bright purple hair was now a faded tangle, showing the damage of bleach and neglect. Diane casually turned her hand and tapped on the glass, causing her prisoner to look up, the small glimmer of hope in her eyes vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

"I'm sure we can arrange a compromise here," said Diane smugly, not witnessing but fully aware of the impact this footage would have. And did have, as Pikachu backed away from the screen, quietly moving. Henry looked around as Pikachu's hip bumped the table, "Are you ok?" he enquired.

"I'm just gonna go get some fresh air," she stammered. Diane's voice didn't pause from her delivery of her requirements of the swap as Pikachu ran from the room.

Pikachu ran down the corridor, her mind spinning. This was her fault. So she had to fix it. First stop the lab. Quickly accessing Henry's computer system, she placed her hand over the USB port and closed her eyes. Windows opened all over the screen in a frantic jumble for a few seconds, all firewalls instantaneously disabled. After a few seconds Pikachu opened her eyes, viewing the now blank screen before hurrying out of the room.

Reaching the garage she searched quickly for the keys. Not finding any, she made her way over to the car. "Looking for these?" came a voice from the doorway. Pikachu glanced over her shoulder to see Kate, dangling a pair of keys suggestively.

"Trying to stop me?" asked Pikachu, suspicious. Kate rolled her eyes, before launching a half-hearted spiel, as Pikachu backed towards the car.

"It's stupid, and probably isn't going to help anyone."

"Right," said Pikachu, climbing into the van, "because I have been such a big help so far. Anyway, since when have you wanted to help me?" she shot. Glancing down to see that the car is an auto.

"You're still forgetting, I'm the ones with the keys here?" said Kate smugly.

"I think you're forgetting, I'm the one with the powers here," countered Pikachu, at the same time jetting a stream of sparks into the ignition, effectively hotwiring the car before pulling out hurriedly. Kate swore loudly, racing after the car as it tore out of the driveway and reaching for her walkie talkie.

"Magnus, we have a problem," said Kate into the receiver as a flash of electricity overrode the gate locking mechanism and the van careered out of sight.


	5. Wild Thunder

AN: Hey, so a short chapter this month sorry. It was nearly unfinished so I almost had to postponed. But a lucky streak allowed me to finish in time :).

Any differences in character are planned, although I am currently sick so what works in my brain may not work in the real world. Reviews are nice so that when my brain is functioning correctly I can fix anything that is out-of-sorts. And they also make me feel good :)

So yes, read, review and enjoy.

* * *

SANCTUARY

Magnus stood up from her desk, looking from Will to Henry then to Kate. "So what you are trying to tell me is that a distraught 19 year old girl with untold abilities has stolen our van," she said slowly. "Henry, was there any record of Amber having a drivers licence in Australia?" Henry made a few quick strokes with his stylus,

"Hey, I got something," he started excitedly, his voice falling as he realised the impact of what he was reading, "an Amber Armstrong booked and passed the learner drivers test in Australia about 3 years ago, 2 years ago she booked and failed her provisional licence," he gave Magnus a worried glance, "and it seems like she hasn't driven since."

"Great" said Will, "so not only is she powerful and emotionally unstable but she also can't drive," sarcasm straining his voice.

"Yes, I can see how it is a cause for panic. Particularly because in Australia they drive on the other side of the road and she is lost in a foreign place, I do feel we can use this to our advantage," said Helen, logically working through the situation. "Henry, is there a way to track the van?"

"Onto it doc," said Henry, trying to locate the network that was linked into the van. "Oh shit, it's scrambled," he looked up at Magnus, "this is going to take me a while, to unscramble, but it seems that being so close to Pikachu is distorting the signal."

"Is there a way to keep track of all police channels and traffic monitoring systems in the meantime?" Magnus replied.

"Onto it Doc," said Henry, beginning to hack into the system. "And done," he beamed happily at Magnus, "any reports of unsafe driving will set off an alert."

"Good work Henry," said Magnus, before moving on, "now I think it is safe to assume that she has gone after her friend, Henry, how much of the footage did she watch?"

Henry glanced up quickly, "she left only a few seconds in, but that isn't our main problem. I tried to access our files on Pikachu and this is what I found," he said, passing his handheld computer to Magnus. She stared at it bewildered,

"Are you sure this is the file, Henry?"

"I'm afraid so," came his reply, "she must have bypassed the lab on her way out," he shook his head in disbelief. "Five seconds it took her to break the firewalls, decode the files and upload and wipe all information on herself and the cabal, all without touching the keyboard."

DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE CITY

Pikachu walked warily into the packed building, hyper aware of every time a stranger got too close to her. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, "Just get in, get supplies, get out, easy." A man bumped into her, startling her enough to let out a burst of energy. He stumbled a bit, and looked around confused. Getting into a defensive stance she stared steadily into his eyes, willing him to make a move. The tension escalated before he shook his head, as if trying to dislodge an idea and moved on, quickly mumbling "sorry."

Pika let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. "Way too close," she muttered to herself, moving quickly towards a nearby Walmart. She needed a weapon. Or more precisely, she needed a conductor. Staring at the signs on the ceiling she made her way over to the homewares section, quickly finding what she had come for. Pocketing her new prize, she headed for the exit, only barely registering the security guard.

"Aren't you going to pay for that?" Pikachu halted, turning to find the man she had bumped into earlier pointing at her stuffed pocket, his voice raised enough that she was sure that the security guard had been alerted. She cursed her mistake. A whole year of living off the things she could steal and she couldn't even remember to check whether anyone was looking? Shameful.

"No," She turned on her heel, aware that the man hadn't let up.

"Security, I believe this woman is shoplifting," the man practically yelled, making Pikachu wince. She kept walking, now keeping a steady eye on the security guard at the only exit. A burly man, she was sure that his work hadn't provided the exercise to balance out his food intake. Other people around her had started to take notice of her hasty exit. The man who had alerted everyone to her presence was catching up. Pikachu slowed purposefully, letting him.

"Now if you would just pay fo-" His sentence was cut off as he laid his hand on her arm. Twisting quickly to knock him off balance she sent a handful of sparks into him, knocking him out and creating a light show for those watching. Turning around again she saw that the once calm and curious people were starting to panic, as the guard lifted his phone to his ear to alert the police. Pikachu sent a wave of static his way, causing him to drop his phone as the electronics screeched into his ear.

She walked up to him, finding confidence in her newfound control of the situation. "I'm sorry miss, but I can't let you leave," he said, stepping in front of her, his voice betraying his uncertainty. Glaring at him, she looked back over her shoulder at the man she had knocked out, who was now being attended to by the few bystanders who hadn't been completely bewildered by shock. Looking back at the security, she smiled,

"I could always do to you what I did to him," she raised her hand, allowing tiny sparks to shoot across. She leaned in, "but I don't think that your heart could take it," she said, pointedly looking at his beer gut.

The security guard nodded shakily, stepping aside and looking rather pale. Pikachu swept by, oblivious to the panic setting in behind her. She hurried out of the store, confident that she had all that she needed in order to save Jasmine. Walking past one store, something caught her eye. She had barely noticed, but most of the shops had closed their doors, trying to bar her from entering. Glancing at the window, and at the flashing lockdown lights, she smiled. "I guess one last stop won't hurt," she said to herself, before sending a powerful blast into the shop window, shattering it and allowing her to climb through. Moments later she returned, clutching a new outfit, before continuing her return to the van she had parked around the corner.

SANCTUARY

"I've got a lock on the van," came Henry's voice through the wireless.

"Good, you, Will and Kate should go investigate it. I'll stay here and in case any new information arrives." Henry shut down the wireless after paging Will and Kate, heading towards the garage. They piled into the van, Will driving with Henry giving directions.

"The signal is coming from a place not very far from here," started Henry, "near that big walmart." Henry looked out the window nervously, "We should hurry though, I may lose the signal any moment." Kate gave him a puzzled look,

"But you decoded the thing right? She can't recode it or whatever can she?" Henry stared down into his computer.

"I didn't unscramble it, it unscrambled itself." Will laid on the gas to shoot through an orange light.

"So that means that she stepped away from the van or she wants us to find her," said Will, before being interrupted by Henry cussing loudly.

"Henry, I didn't know you knew those words," joked Kate, before asking, "what's wrong?"

"She stepped away from her van alright," said Henry, reading the screen quickly. "There is a new police report stating that the department store near where she is parked has gone into lockdown. Over a shoplifter." He looked up.

"So how do we know for sure that it is her?" asked Will, concentrating heavily on the road.

"Well one 911 call stated that a girl blasted her way through a shop window using what appeared to be an explosion coming out of the palms of her hands."

"shit".

Pikachu cursed her luck as she got back onto the main road. The sound of sirens was getting ever closer, and whilst no one had noticed her absence from the store, she was sure that her luck wouldn't last. She hurried around the corner, eager to get back to her van before she pulled short and hid. A van, identical to the one she had stolen had pulled up next to hers. She cursed again, backtracking quickly. Mentally going through her options she realised she had only two choices. Try her luck with the van, or find a new ride. Fingering her pocket, she smiled, before turning back the way she had come.

A man walked down the road, coffee in one hand, speakers dangling out of one ear. It was his usual walk back to work from his lunch break. Peaceful. If it weren't for the faint sound of alarm bells he wouldn't have noticed the girl. She looked normal, well groomed, if a little grungy. The tight red and black dress showing off her body as she hurried down the street. There seemed to be something else about her. The way she walked, a certain look that she had in her eye. It made him wary, but ever more curious.

He watched her, as she strode down to a bright red convertible. She barely looked old enough to be able to drive, yet she must've been as the key caught the light, looking almost electric for a second, when she brought it to the door. The car started with a soft purr, as she pulled out onto the road. A loud yell startled him, as he turned to see a man running after the car. He could see the faintest smile on the girls face and he realised he hadn't seen a key. He took in the scene for another second as she drove off, before shaking his head. He must've seen a key. Cars didn't just open and start so easily without a key.

Pikachu checked her reflection confidently in the mirror of the car. It had been way too easy to steal the car. Driving the van had gotten her used to driving again. "Just like a bicycle," she said to herself, before trying to find her location. Taking the opportunity of a red light she placed her hand on the GPS, starting a flurry of information. She found where she was immediately, then followed the cyber map through to where she wanted to go.

She was halfway through calculating the quickest route that stayed out of the main city areas when a horn blasted through her concentration. She awoke suddenly, then realised where she was. She shoved her foot down on the pedal, barely making it through the lights as they went yellow. She cursed, trying to remember where to go. She smiled as she got her bearings, glad to be back on track to finding Jasmine. She turned the corner, unaware of the black van following her exact route.


	6. Authors Note

Hi, sorry to report that the newest chapter is still in progress and will not be up this month.

I have just started Uni, and whilst that is going well I decided to do a science degree that manages to take up all my time and adds way too much stress to my plate without a writing deadline.

So once again, sorry. It shall be done (hopefully) by next month


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